Product Review: Facom J.161 3/8in ratchet

Published: 16 April 2014

Facom J.161 3/8in ratchet, £37.37

Time tested: Four years

What’s good? The smooth operation of this dinky 3/8in Facom ratchet is a delight, and the fact it has 72 teeth in the ratchet means it will work in more confined spaces. The extra teeth (the equivalent in my perfectly serviceable Halfords set only has 45 teeth) means it doesn’t need to rotate as far to be effective. Just small swings make it fasten or loosen tricky nuts and bolts. I’m not a tool snob and I know that complete socket sets are available from Argos for less than the price of this, but this came as a freebie with a magazine subscription and has been a worthy addition to my toolbox.

What’s not? You need to know you’ll be making regular use of it to justify the expense. The other risk is that the beautiful action might make your regular tools feel a shade sub-standard.